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The system also enables patients who deemed less seriously ill to be diverted to the minor injuries unit next door, staffed by GPs and practice nurses.

But a growing number of patients have begun fiddling the system by exaggerating their pain or inventing systems altogether.

Managers are now considering an overhaul which would ensure the kiosks are supervised by nurses to ensure patients tell the truth.

Kevin Phillips, Chief medical officer said: ‘People who are not that sick are entering details which make them look sicker.

‘Emergency care in this hospital does not run the same as how it runs in bigger hospitals.

‘We are looking at we put a better triage system, in with humans, which would make a big difference.

But a growing number of patients have begun fiddling the system by exaggerating their pain or inventing systems altogether, at Hull Royal Infirmary (pictured)

Patients at the Queens Centre, Castle Hill Hospital, may soon have to go through a triage system instead

The A&E unit is one of many across England struggling to cope with the soaring patient demand.

This winter’s performance figures for all trusts were the worst in 12 years and tens of thousands of patients are waiting longer than four hours to be seen.

The A&E unit in Hull Royal Infirmary deals with 400 patients a day and has missed the four hour target every month since November 2013.

Initially senior doctors hailed the system as a ‘huge success’ as it reduced the numbers queuing at reception – and seemingly correctly diverted them.

Dr Mark Simpson, an emergency department consultant and chief clinical information officer, said in January 2014: ‘It has worked better than I dared to think about.

‘One of the things that we’ve struggled with in the past is to assess patient pain.

‘We have put in the clinical parameters to give them some form of assessment. If anything is critical, it will flag up - such as chest pain,” said Dr Simpson.

‘If there’s a flag, the patient will be seen by the assessment team within seven to eight minutes. One of the clever bits was that we designed the system to stream the patient into ED (the emergency department) or GP care, based on the information provided.

‘If we got 50 per cent of patients using it, we were going to call it a success.

In the first week we got to 80 per cent using it.’

Meanwhile Sheffield University researchers have concluded that installing GPs in A&E to try and reduce pressure doesn’t work.